A group that runs a century-old cemetery in Sydney says the declining number of people going to church has left them without enough money for upkeep.

Thomas MacDonald has been keeping the grounds at the Holy Cross Cemetery for 17 years. He says the cemetery’s closure will leave him without a job.

“It will be just left, I guess. It will go back to the way it was,” says MacDonald. “Each family member will have to come up and cut their loved ones graves.”  

MacDonald's job included mowing the grass, fixing damaged headstones and overall maintenance. He was paid during the summer months and collected employment insurance during the off season.

MacDonald feels the families of the deceased and being abandoned.

“They gave their money to the churches. I heard people that gave to the churches before they gave to their families. Now it's gone. They've got no money,” he says.

Allen MacLeod manages the Holy Cross Cemetery Society, which was founded in 1995 and made up of parishioners from several churches in the Sydney area. Some have since closed and amalgamated, leaving them strapped for funds.

“The parishes contributed a few thousand dollars each year. That slowed down to a trickle the last number of years,” says MacLeod. “The money put into the coffers wasn't there from the people attending churches, so they had to make some decisions and the cemetery is not high up on the list of things to do.”

The society has begun notifying the families of the deceased and following the proper procedure to officially disband. After that, this cemetery will be taken over by the Diocese of Antigonish.

But its future is still unknown.

“I think somebody will be there cutting the grass and looking after the places as best they can,” says MacLeod. “The resources are stretched, so it might not be as well maintained as it was.

With a number of churches closing, MacLeod feels other cemeteries are in the same situation.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.